Kung Fu's The Show Must Go Off! live concert DVD series continues with Episode 11, featuring Southern California's own, Goldfinger. Watching this made me wax nostalgic with fellow editor Adam about how, long ago, we both loved Goldfinger.
Of course, this was back in 1996 - simpler times, to be sure. The Internet wasn't nearly as culturally influential as it is now [so we both weren't nearly as antisocial and reclusive as we are], nor was Goldfinger as crazily militant as they are now about veganism and the like. Basically we were two adolescent kids discovering the joys of punk rock, and Goldfinger delivered it to us in a skankable, moshable, pogoable, singalongable package.
Amazingly, 8 years later, they're still delivering that same package to hoardes of kids every night, and I find myself wishing I could have been in the crowd the night this DVD was filmed. John Feldmann and company don't just play a show - they put on a show. It's entertaining without being too stupid, and even though they do something as absurd as faux-goosestepping offstage with your bandmates at the end of your set to a metal riff, you still look at it and say "that's kinda cool."
The DVD is filmed very well, with over a half-dozen angles throughout the concert used. The sound is amazingly thick for a live show - whoever worked the soundboard that night deserves a round of applause for catching all of Feldmann's vocal tricks through the stage PA. I must also applaud the band's stage manager - he works just as hard as the band, it seems. If you watch the DVD, you'll understand.
My only real complaint about the DVD is it's brevity - clocking in at about 45 minutes, including encore, the band only plays 14 songs. To put it into perspective, their longtime touring partners and labelmates Reel Big Fish's DVD ran close to an hour and a half, and that band has less material than Goldfinger. Sure, they play the "hits" ["Superman," "99 Red Balloons," and rather cardboard runthroughs of "Here In Your Bedroom" and "Mable"], but where's all the other great anthems from their self-titled disc on?
What the DVD lacks in actual performance content, it makes up for it in the "bonus footage" of the band out on the road. This mini-documentary is a good half hour or so of the band's history, from it's first show up to present day. It is hands down the best extra on any of the Show Must Go Off! DVDs thus far. This is how they should all be done.
If you're a fan of the band, this is definitely something to pick up, although you've been warned about the short running time. If you've always wanted to give them a listen, this isn't a bad place to start as their performance samples all four of their albums. All in all, it let me pretend I was 14 again, and I don't mind that feeling one bit.